[nagdu] how to give medicine for ear infections

[Tami Kinney]

Janice,

Um... I just a few minutes ago treated the ears of an 8 week old that 
didn't want to be held... Which is not the same as treating an adult 
dog. /lol/ Then I treated Mitzi poodle, whose one ear was smelling a 
little sweet (yeasty) before the puppy came into the house. Must be the 
damp, I guess. Anyway, with both, I start with the "calming hold." That 
is one arm over the dog's back, where I can grab a front leg to keep the 
dog in place, or where I can lightly apply pressure with my fingers to 
the back of the neck, just where the skull joins, like a mommy dog 
schooling her puppies. I used this hold a lot on my wild and crazy 
poodle child in high stimulus situations, keeping my hand over her heart 
until it would slow down from hummingbird speed so that I could work 
with her in a training way.

So the calming hold, as I call it -- it may have another name in pack 
theory, which I'm not a huge fan of unless I use bits and pieces of it,. 
Anyway, by gently containing the dog, one can also stroke the dog's ears 
in a calming way or rub the base of the ears in a calming way. While 
speaking in a calm, loving voice, etc., etc. Until the dog calms down. 
By having the dog against your body, you can tell when the body relaxes 
and the heartbeat slows.

Then you can gently praise and, since it sounds like Destiny is 
resistant to having something in her ears, as who wouldn't be? -- stroke 
the flaps of her ears, feeling them for yourself and gradually 
introducing her to the nozzle you're using to put medicine in her ears, 
etc.

You can tell when the medicine is in because you can smell it or feel 
the damp... Also, Destiny will probably want to shake her head, so you 
can hear the liquid.

It all sounds horribly involved, but it is really not. The first couple 
of times I had to put medicine in Mitzi's ears for a puppy yeast 
infection, I found it all very traumatic. I tried having my neighbor and 
her daughter observe and assist, but they're not exactly farm girls and 
ran out of the house screaming. /lol/ This motivated me and Mitzi both 
to work it out our own selves. The neighbor and the daughter gradually 
then became brave enough to observe the process without shrieks or 
flight. /lol/ They may have been motivated by my calm description of 
treating farm animal injuries when I was younger than the daughter... 
They indicated strongly that they did *not* want to hear about it. Teethe.

Anyway, with the new puppy, DD did the first couple of treatments, but I 
decided to do it myself this afternoon, and it all seemed to go will. 
Stuff got in the ears, and I managed not to inadvertently stick the 
nozzle of the liquid cleaner I'm using for that. Mitzi, of course, is 
not happy with having her ears treated, but she hold still under protest 
because she knows it is futile to protest. /lol/

Anyway, I don't know if that is at all helpful, but that's what I do. 
Trying to hold a full grown lab (or am I misremembering Destiny's 
breed?) would be a bit much for me, but the technique I use did work 
with Daisy when we were getting militant with what had been long term 
ear infections for her. She took too people to hold and treat, with 
Mitzi giving moral support, but we were able to get the job done until 
Daisy decided that it wasn't that bad and would just hold still for it. 
Whew!

So working up to the actual application of the medication with Destiny 
is probably your best bet, even though it is likely to be a frustrating 
process at first. Based on my experience and opinion, at least. A dog's 
ear canal is longer than a humans, so I probably don't need to worry 
about causing real harm as much as I do. Even so, I would rather err on 
the sie of caution when I'm sticking something into my dog's ear canal. 
Yikes!

Good luck, and I hope Destiny feels better soon...

Tami On 11/23/2011 12:08 PM, Janice Toothman wrote:
> Does anyone have suggestions on how to hold a dog that doesn't want to
> be held so that I can put ear drops in her ear for an ear infection. I
> am never even sure if I get the medicine in correctly positioned in her
> ear. So any suggestions will be helpful. I am also supposed to clean her
> ear more frequently- another chore that she doesn't like.
> Janice and Destiny
>
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